1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an encapsulated medical device, and a method of examining, curing, and treating an internal region of a body cavity using the encapsulated medical device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an endoscope is used to examine, cure, or treat an intended region by inserting an elongated inserting section thereof, which is coupled to an operation unit, into a body cavity. It is however hard to keep the endoscope inserted therein for a prolonged period of time.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-342522, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications Nos. 7-111985 and 9-327447 which the present applicant filed previously have proposed peroral medical devices capable of examining, curing, or treating an internal region.
The Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-342522 has proposed a peroral endoscope. The peroral endoscope has a balloon, which is used to immobilize the endoscope at an intended region of the lumen of a body cavity, included in the front part of an inserting section thereof.
The Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 7-111985 and 9-327447 propose encapsulated medical devices. The encapsulated medical devices have various sensor means and power supply means disposed on the surface of a capsule body.
However, in the peroral endoscope described in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-342522 has a drawback that the balloon comes into close contact with the internal surface of a body cavity to block the lumen of the body cavity. Consequently, the balloon comes to a standstill on the internal surface of the body cavity in a stenosed part thereof. Moreover, in the peroral endoscope, a hole or a groove, which allows a fluid such as a gas or humor to flow forwards or backwards in the lumen, is not formed between the balloon and an endoscope body, in the balloon itself, nor in a portion of the endoscope body other than the portion having the balloon. Therefore, when the peroral endoscope described in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-342522 comes to a standstill on the internal surface of the body cavity in the stenosed part thereof, a fluid such as a gas or humor cannot flow forwards or backwards in the lumen.
In contrast, the encapsulated medical devices described in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 7-111985 and 9-327447 have a plurality of means including various sensor means and power supply means fixed on the periphery of a capsule body. The outer diameter of the capsule body is large when all over the periphery thereof is included. The capsule body therefore comes into close contact with the internal surface of a body cavity to block the lumen of the body cavity. Consequently, the capsule body comes to a standstill on the internal surface of the body cavity in a stenosed part thereof.
In the encapsulated medical devices, concave parts of the periphery of the capsule body created by various sensor means and the power supply means are shallow. Therefore, when the capsule body comes to a standstill on the internal surface of the body cavity in a stenosed part thereof, the concave parts hardly allow a fluid such as a gas or humor to flow forwards or backwards in the lumen. The encapsulated medical devices have been developed without concern about the incident that the capsule body may come to a standstill in a stenosed part of a lumen. No description has been made of the incident that the capsule body may come to a standstill in a stenosed part of a lumen.
For example, in relation to the encapsulated medical device, alarm devices for livestock or especially for delivery including the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,687 have been proposed. The alarm device is inserted into the birth canal so that it will alarm at the time of delivery.